Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20

InlSoTdD1e ulbappOlutment ana 1alure. EA- tend it for what I ask? But the ex-superin-
 tendent says he proposes to extend the road
 through to Torrington. What for ? Why, to
 carry that Torrington freight! Now, gen. tlemen, I am afraid that this scheme of exten-
 sion will leak out. Some of my friends own Naugatuck railroad stock and if the scheme
 should be made public, there would uu- doubtedly be a decided tumble in Nauga- 1, tuck railroad securities. Perhaps they , were in earnest about it, but took this | extension proposition as & joke when heard | of it., Just think of the Shepaug road be-
 ing extended to Torrington to enter into competition with the Naugatuck road l! WfS that is song they have been singing for the past fifteen years. The opportuni- ty to extend was given to the Shepaug road
 in the charter originally granted by
 the General Assembly in 1869 or 1870, and the extension has never been made. The project to extend the road is ticket you may safely label "Good for this day and train only" And it was pretty thoroughly punched too, when the Resolution which
 had passed this session of the General As
 sembly showed when introduced in evil
 dence, that it never was the intention to
 extend the road to Torrington, but to Nor
 folk or Winsted.
 The gentleman from New Haven tried to
 escape the point I made against Superin- tendent McNeil. I asked him how long the
 extention to Torrington had been in view.
 He replied, for year or two. I then asked
 him why resolution went through this
 General Assembly that did not contemplate any such thing. tell you, gentlemen, the
 proposed extension of the Shepaug road is | huge joke. In my humble opinion it will
 never be extended, and even if it should be, how would it accommodate the people of | the county? Will it be an accommodation
 or convenience to the majority of the peo- pie of the county? The map shows that | it will be of no sort of convenience. The
 fact is that we have no railroad facilities to
 or from our county seat, Is there any good reason why we should not have them? | Can you find @ satisfactory reason why 50, :
 900 people in Litchfield county should be
 deprived of the blessings of railroad facil-
 ities, and this, too. in the nineteenth cen
 tury? I ask every one of you what your
 condition would be if you were compelled
 to transact your business, either at court
 or at the legislature, and had no railroad
 facilities Do you not believe it would be
 hardship? Would it not be an evil you
 would try to remedy; and are we not en-
 titled to those privileges which people else
 where enjoy? What other public convey
 ances have we got? There is none to
 speak of, and say that this is the most
 remarkable case in the whole country. As
 to public conveyances outside of railroad
 facilities, the Housatonic valley for dis
 tance of 40 miles, where there is a popu-
 la}ion of about 10000, furnishes us with
 some important facts. The only convey
 ance is saddle-bag mail stage running
 from Cornwall Bridge to Litchfeld, which
 nobody has ever patronized and which mo-
 body ever can patronize. Forty miles oi
 country and 20, 900 of population and not a
 single public conveyance going to ol
 from Litchfeld Hill. Pass through the en.
 tire northern tier of towns for a distance o1
 30 miles, and there is not Q single public
 conveyance to Litchfeld Hill. Pass down
 the. Naugatuck valley for 25 miles and
 theresis but one, stage road A miles
 described to you by many witnesses.
 Hartford attorney of high standing told
 me but yesterday that nineteen-twentieths
 of the fatigue in getting from Hartford te I Litchfield Hill is between Litchfeld station
 and Litchfeld town. We have now passed
 over 90 miles of the county, and we tine
 that majority of the people live on tht
 outskirts of the county. Now go through
 the southern tier of towns. There is not {
 single public conveyance running iron
 them to Litchfield Hill. We have nov
 gone over 120 miles of the county through
 . population of 40 900 and there is only th
 Shepaug railroad, tri-weekly road and th stage line referred to. Is it strange tha our friends from Litchfeld Hill should , have been compelled to run a sort of ligh wagon campaign? Look at their testimo ny for a moment. The gentleman iron New Haven has said that they are the bes
 men in the county; yet they are no bette than our witnesses. The witnesses wh were picked out by Litchfeld Hill wer l: those who own their conveyances, and wh drive to Litchtield in pleasant summe weather to get puff of mountain air. On could not go into the manufacturing estah f lishments of Torrington and other valle towns and bring here the thousands of son
 of toll and get them to say that they woul : prefer to go to Litchfeld Hill. Those ar :, the men wbo are suffering hardships to-da ill this matter.
 t Litchfeld Hill is as have said. entirel f inaccessible. It is destitute of railroad fa t cilities. It has no public conveyances t We had another class of testimony which . it occurs to us, is of very great importanc g to you in passing upon this question. It y proved that such distinguished attorney . as the Hon. Henry c. Robinson of liar f ford, Ex-Governor Ingersoll of New Have1 k and others of prominence, absolutely refus . to go to Litchtield Hill to-day because ( s the inaccessibility and inconvenience of il e location. And there Is also testimony frol n attorneys in Bridgeport and Danbury 6 the same effect. I desire to say here, b r. the way, that there is not judge on or d Supreme Court bench, from our honore l. Chief Justice down, who will not tell yo o that it is unjust to continue the location ( j. the county seat on Litchfeld Hill. " a know their sentiments. Every Superit l. ,ehd Supreme court judge in this state h, l. the same opinion. It is the univers y opinion of every judge and of every alto r ney who has ever been there, that Litchtiel y Hill is the most inaccessible county seat d Connecticut or any other state.
 y Here is another noticeable characterist l. of the evidence. While they have attemp e ed to controvert Governor Andrews's opi # ion that Litchfeld Hill is in Q pitiable ar ,- abject condition of helplessness, yet the s have been unable to obtain the testimor y of single disinterested witness outside z Litchtield county in their behalf. This ;, a remarkable state of facts. If Govern l, Andrews's statement is not true, why h l. it not been possible for Litchfeld Hill pc n pie to come into Hartford or go to Ne 7. Haven or Bridgeport and call up someboe r. to say something for Litchheld Hill. Al g right here in this connection 1 want 'e characterize the whole of the evidence ( re the part of the opposition in this case IS having been obtained by making sen Id mental appeals to bring here the old pi ID neers of that county who knew Litchtie